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Chapter 72 - Chapter 72: Black Market

"Put it on. This is your number plate and your identification for mission handover. If you quit later, you can return it, and a refund will be issued based on your rank."

Henry put the wooden plate into his money pouch and donned the mask.

The bald bartender led Henry to the back door of the Hamlet Bar, knocked twice, waited two seconds, then knocked three more times.

The door quickly opened halfway from the outside.

"Go in," the bald bartender stepped aside.

Henry stepped out the back, and the door immediately closed, with three pistols pointed at him.

A white man with a scarred face said coldly, "Frisk him. Hands up."

Henry obediently raised his hands.

Two men, one in front and one behind, frisked Henry very thoroughly.

A few minutes later, the frisking ended, and the two white guards, one in front and one behind, sandwiched Henry and walked towards the alley behind.

At this moment, Henry felt a bit like he was winding through old housing estates when traveling to Hong Kong in later years.

Along the way, the person leading them even pushed open the back doors of several houses and passed through them.

After winding around for nearly five minutes, the guards led Henry to a two-story brick-and-wood villa covering about 2000 square meters.

The villa was surrounded by a granite stone wall over three meters high.

Eight guards stood at the villa's entrance, with revolvers tucked into their waists and Winchester Rifles in their hands.

One of the guards checked Henry's identification wooden plate, then pushed open the villa door and led him inside.

About thirty meters ahead was a two-story Mediterranean-style brick-and-wood house covering over four hundred square meters.

On the second floor, ten gunmen were watching the first floor.

In the center of the first-floor garden, ten armed guards were patrolling, with ten rooms separated on each side, about forty meters apart.

"You are currently E-rank. Missions below C-rank are in the ten rooms on the left. The right side is for material transactions, B-rank and higher missions, and posting missions. So, please go to the left."

"Rooms with white signs are empty, and black signs mean they are occupied. If all are occupied, wait on that row of chairs. The innermost seats are at the front of the line."

"Attention—you must only walk along the edge path; do not go into the center of the garden."

After giving instructions, the guard turned around, pulled open the villa door, and walked out.

Currently, there were 28 guards protecting this villa, and it was unknown if there were more inside the house.

Moreover, Henry could tell from the calluses on these guards' hands and their gazes that they were all seasoned gunmen.

Some of the houses they passed on the way were empty, some were occupied, and with so many houses nearby, if all were occupied, hundreds of people could easily be hidden inside.

If using skill Flying Dagger, Henry still had 184 Flying Daggers, about 30 centimeters long and weighing about 350 grams each. With his skill Flying Dagger LV4, he should be able to inflict sufficient damage on enemies within twenty meters.

The release life progress bar is now at 3rd level 10.78%.

Below are 165 gray beads, 106 white beads, 9 green beads, and 36 gray bead empty shells, 42 white bead empty shells, and 2 green bead empty shells.

As long as he wasn't targeted by machine gun fire, there shouldn't be any problems.

The accumulated release beads are equivalent to 785 gray beads, which can be used to enhance Agility or Strength Talent.

However, Henry wanted to improve his Warning Talent even more. This Talent, which requires 1000 gray beads of energy to upgrade, must be more powerful than the other two.

And now, in Super Reaction state, he can throw 20 Flying Daggers in 1 second. If he upgrades further, perhaps he could throw 24?

While it would allow him to better utilize the power of the Super Reaction state, the difference wouldn't be significant.

On the contrary, an upgrade to the Warning Talent should lead to a qualitative leap in combat power.

Henry walked along the edge path towards the partitions on the left. As he went down, he found that only the very last room had a white wooden sign—business was quite good.

So he knocked on the door, then pushed it open, finding only a wooden table and three wooden stools inside. A lean Red-haired Youth sat on the wooden stool behind the wooden table, and about 2 meters to his left rear sat a guard holding a revolver.

The last wooden stool was for Henry.

Henry walked over and sat down on the wooden stool.

"What mission do you want to take? Where's your identification plate?" the Red-haired Youth asked.

Henry pulled out his identification plate and asked, "What missions are available for me to take?"

"This is an E-rank plate, so you can only take D-rank and E-rank missions. Take a look~" The Red-haired Youth pulled out a 32-page booklet and handed it to Henry.

Henry opened it and saw that they were all group missions: escort, kidnapping, robbery, assassination, or theft, but the income was not high.

For example, a mission to join a 20-person escort team to guard a fur merchant paid 1.5 us dollars a day, with additional pay for combat. Of course, those with exceptionally good marksmanship could negotiate.

The problem was that a 5% commission, with a minimum of 2 us dollars, had to be paid to the black market.

It's estimated that the black market also demands a commission from the employer, profiting from both ends.

The Red-haired Youth sized up Henry's tall build and attire, then smiled and said, "There's also a bounty mission available regardless of rank: Henry's head. Do you need his latest whereabouts information? It's only 10 us dollars."

"Who is Henry?" Henry asked.

"A small town sheriff in the mountains. Someone has offered a 10,000 us dollar bounty for his head. Anyone can take it, no deposit required. However, if you want his detailed information, it's 300 us dollars."

"The 10 us dollar one," Henry said, pulling out two 5 us dollar green bills from his money pouch.

The Red-haired Youth smiled and handed Henry a 32-page paper.

Henry took the paper and scanned it, finding that it listed his time of departure from the Rocky Mountains, the personnel, weapons, and his last known location—Melon Manor, as well as his recent plan to send Linda back to New York by train.

Finally, a bolded and emphasized sentence was added: This person possesses superb marksmanship, is ruthless, and extremely dangerous. Poisoning, sneak attacks, and surprise assaults are recommended.

Henry asked, "Can you tell me how many people have bought this information? I need to know how many competitors there are."

"Quite a few, but I cannot tell you the exact number," the Red-haired Youth still smiled.

"How do I claim the bounty after getting Henry's head?" Henry asked.

"Bring it here to turn in the mission, and the bounty will be paid to you in cash, with a 10% commission deducted. Your safety will be guaranteed within the black market, and you will be escorted out through a hidden exit."

After the Red-haired Youth finished speaking, he leaned back in his chair, asking with the confident air of a successful person, "Have you chosen a mission?"

He was in a very good mood, having sold five pieces of Henry's 10 us dollar intelligence in half an hour, making a considerable bonus.

"I've chosen. But I have a question: This is my first time here. Do I have to go back along the old path through the Hamlet Bar when I leave?"

"No, that's for newcomers. Someone will escort you out later."

"Thank you! If I have important intelligence to sell, who should I contact?"

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